The New York Times suggests that the war against woke isn't doing any better than the war against Christmas. Even Republican voters are tired of it:
When presented with the choice between two hypothetical Republican candidates, only 24 percent of national Republican voters opted for a “a candidate who focuses on defeating radical ‘woke’ ideology in our schools, media and culture” over “a candidate who focuses on restoring law and order in our streets and at the border.”
Vivek Ramaswamy may be a no-hope candidate for the Republican nomination, but he made his name as an anti-woke doomsayer. That was only two years ago, but today he says he's already moved on:
In an interview, Mr. Ramaswamy said the evolving views of the electorate were important, and he had adapted to them....“At the time I came to be focused on this issue, no one knew what the word was,” he said. “Now that they have caught up, the puck has moved. It’s in my rearview mirror as well.”
Law and order and border security have become stand-ins for “fortitude,” he said, and that is clearly what Republican voters are craving.
Among Republicans, the border is pretty clearly the issue with the most legs. It's not always the top concern of the moment, but year in and year out it's always near the top of the list. And it's at record highs this year:
Donald Trump might not be the smartest guy in the room, but he has a native shrewdness about people. Immigration was his top issue on the day he descended from Trump Tower onto our TV screens, and it's still his top issue today.¹
¹Aside from complaining about how badly everyone treats him, of course.
Donald Trump might not be the smartest guy in the room, but he has a native shrewdness about people.
This.
Trump possesses a conman's grasp of basic psychology. His forays into the world of professional wrestling and his time in reality TV gave him deep insight into the psyche of his followers.
"Woke" was just another in a long long list of conjuring words, and they all have limited shelf-life, but what they conjure -- racial resentment -- is pretty much forever among certain parts of the country.
&btw I would say that "immigration" is also a conjuring word -- albeit one with a longer life, like "welfare" -- and what it evokes is resentment of non-White Spanish speaking people, whatever their origin. Trumpites don't really care about immigration per se -- Trump himself even said it's fine when it's from countries like Norway -- and they could care less about establishing and maintaining a functional immigration system. They just want cops to shoot brown people, and "immigration" is a nice way to dress that up in a cloak of legalism. (Recall that the first undocumented entry into the US is a misdemeanor.)
Came to say this exact thing. That we, and others I am sure, know this indicates that this fact is well known. Even among the white supremacist right, there's no real effort to deny the racism, just dress it up a bit.
I am so glad you made clear that anti-immigrant sentiment doesn't have anything to do with the Spanish language or Catholic faith. It has to do with how deep brown a would-be American is. Yes, the Cubanos were fleeing a Marxist Dictator!, but they were also overwhelmingly the Caucasian members of the Spanish-descended elite of Cuba.
The same is true for Euro-Venezuelans, especially those who have petroleum skills. They are welcomed with open arms as naysayers to Chavez and Maduro. The Indios with the same grievances are forced to move to Colombia.
Next year is the hundredth anniversary of the shameful Immigration Act of 1924.
Just for the record: America's not gotten any better since then.
In 1925, the KKK marched in Washington, D.C. and Black folks had to duck out of the way. And forced sterilization is no longer practiced on the "feeble-minded." Police detachments protect Pride marches in major cities across the country.
I think things have improved a little.
Agree. Things may be bad - absurdly bad - but we are (seemingly) completely blind to how truly horrible things were previously.
Are Republican voter willing to increase taxes to pay for increased immigration enforcement? Wall cost money, and by this point I think everyone will agree Mexico is not going to pay for it.
More border agents costs money.
Is the GOP going to increase taxes to pay?
Well if those Dumb-o-crats weren't spending all our hard-earned tax dollars on welfare and foreign aid, we'd have plenty of money to defend the homeland!
Hey, don't forget about those sex change operations for 5 year old's. Changing them into cats!!!
It's hard to imagine how well the Democratic Party would be doing now if they actually found a way to give people the language to discuss their legitimate cultural anxieties, instead of just defaulting to tisk tisking them as racists for thinking such things out loud.
Instead, large swaths of voters are turning to the Republican troglodytes for answers, and are being fed the right-wing wackjob version of how to preserve American culture while making room for immigrants.
What pray tell are “legitimate cultural anxieties”?
Has the progressive left grown so intellectually detached from tribal human nature and all of human history that most of us honestly have no idea what “legitimate cultural anxieties” even are, aside from something so sneer at? No wonder we somehow manage to lose to idiots like Trump.
I think he's reacting to your characterization of bigotry being rooted in something legitimate instead of a scourge on decent people.
This.
I am in total agreement that many of the Left totally ignore human nature, especially tribalism. But the word "legitimate" is what is the problem here. Even "inevitable" would be better.
Tribalism is a human survival trait that's been buried in our DNA for eons. To suggest that all tribal anxieties are inherently illegitimate and must be ridiculed out of us is roughly equivalent to the church demonizing kids for masturbating. Good luck with that.
You're not a racist, you're just a "race realist." Got it.
So in your mind "cultural anxieties" and "racism" are indistinguishable? Got it.
No, in my mind, idiotic attempts to be clever by using obvious dog whistles are indistinguishable from your less-couth brethren.
Instead of herp-de-durping about what a racist Republican I am (lol) and being a caricature of exactly the problem, why don't you pour that energy into pontificating on my dirty little secret below.
Or did you go to private school, too? A little to close to home, social warrior?
Since I can't reply to the next comment, it doesn't matter where I went to school, but to be open about it, I went to school in 1970s LA at a mostly white public school. I grew up in a mostly white, blue collar neighborhood of your fellow travelers. So I know racism (veiled or otherwise) when I see it. That said, these fuckheads seem to want some sort of deference and benefit of the doubt as they snicker about "dirty little secrets" which is akin to Trump just "saying what we've all been thinking"
Nope, this is your thing, asshole. Leave me the fuck out of it.
The far rights actions must be blamed on the left for not addressing (insert phrase i just made up)! How dare you LIBS make them act that way!!
That i cannot explain this must also be blamed on the left!!!! How dare you ask me to explain myself!!
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Lol, the pretend liberal, aggreived permanent victim schtick again. It never goes away. Trump took advantage of these suckers and they love him for it.
in other words you can't explain it without sounding like a racist because hey its racist.
In short, he's an artless -- but also pathetic -- little bully who needs to find a bigger bully to attach himself to.
So, no answer than. Got it.
I tend to agree. History is chock full of examples of tribalism, heck you can see it in action in numerous places today. People like to band together in groups of shared religion and cultural history - that's why we have Chinatowns, Koreatowns, Little Italy, etc... My ancestors lived in the Polish district back in Philadelphia, when I look at the census results every name on the block was some flavor of Eastern European.
So, human nature to form tribes. I think if the lefties want to alleviate this tendency, they might want to focus on assimilation and helping immigrants integrate into America so as to not startle the natives.
Exactly!
Here's a dirty little secret that might help get you started:
I have tons of fellow white lefty friends in Fairfield County who would NEVER send their kids to a public school that was 80% minority kids. Full stop. Of course they can afford private school, so problem solved. But they really want "diversity" for everyone else's kids... you know, the ones who can't afford private school, or aren't able to move to places like Portland (the LEAST diverse yet ironically most Progressive big city in the U.S.).
Sooo, are all of those Progressives with their deep dark secrets actually OMG RACISTS? Or is it possible you actually do understand full well what a "legitimate cultural anxiety" is?
Listen, dude. You weren't being subtle. Everyone got what you meant immediately and clocked you accurately.
Is a school that is "80% minority kids" diverse? Or segregated?
Um, I seriously doubt that those "lefty" folks in Fairfield County are your "friends". You might well be acquaintances because you all work in finance, but they're not your friends.
You can bank on it.
So, no answer then? Got it.
You guys crack me up. For the record I've never voted for a Republican in my life, and for years referred to myself as a hardcore Progressive. But then somewhere along the way more and more of my Progressive friends became f'ing unbearable, much like the folks in this thread.
So yea, a couple years ago I officially stopped calling myself Progressive. It was getting embarrassing trying to explain why even black people for the most part won't even vote for Progressives. So now I'm just a lefty or whatever. Labor Democrat? That sounds good.
Yes, the Democratic party would do so much better with white people if they'd only stop defending non-white people from the bigotry of white people. Great insight.
They'd also do better with cannibals if they stopped coming out against cannibalism. You are very intelligent and I'm interested in signing up for your newsletter.
Notice how you immediately pushed this issue to its absolute extreme? That's a rhetorical trick that allows lefties to instantly claim the moral high ground and end any conversation... pretty lame and tiring.
But yes, I'm sure your "white people are equivalent to cannibals" newsletter is a real page turner, too.
I pushed it to its extreme because it's a ridiculous argument that falls apart in any other context, which I've just demonstrated.
Reductio ad absurdum has an honored place in rhetoric and a persistent place in Republican legislation.
A "rhetorical trick that allows lefties to instantly claim the moral high ground and end any conversation... pretty lame and tiring."
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Lol, thats your rhetorical trick! 2 out of 10 troll stars. Very unoriginal, totally transparent.
I just don’t get why anyone should care what Ramaswamy says. As far as I can see he could never get elected for anything as a Republican. Perhaps he could get appointed to some government job. But why the MSM and even liberal bloggers quote him is beyond me.
Who will save us from the hordes of brown invaders flowing into our pure land??
Have no fear, for it is I, Vivek Ramaswamy!
I don't know why people keep putting a fine point on this. Republicans aren't against immigration, they're against immigration from south of the border because they hate Latinos. Because Republicans are racist. They aren't setting up walls and razor wire in Sherwood, North Dakota.
Likewise, they are "anti-woke" because "woke" means equal rights for Black folks, LGBT, and women. And they hate that. Because they are bigots.
The GOP is a racist, revanchist, terroristic blight on this country.
Let's just say that and we can move on to how we can fight them.
This is accurate.
????????????????????
MAGA ideal society,
https://twitter.com/GaryPetersonUSA/status/1687936044958629888
It's common in the media to say that "woke" can't be defined, but its meaning is very simple - it means the end of White Christian Supremacy. But open advocacy of White Christian Supremacy is still taboo for national Republican leaders, so "woke" is the current main dog whistle. Things like abortion and LGBTQ issues are supposedly matters of "Christian" morality, but their real importance is as symbols of the dominance of Christianity as a group or tribe.
People ask why the Right is apparently so afraid of a few trans people, but what they are really afraid of is the loss of dominance of their White Christian tribe, and this is a very real fear. This calls on powerful group instincts, for which people may be willing to sacrifice their own lives. Trans people are not only a challenge to "Christian" morality but also a convenient small minority that demagogues can stigmatize.
Immigration now is mostly non-white and although many immigrants are Catholics that is not the religion of most MAGAs. Bringing immigrants in directly dilutes the white percentage. So it is something that can always be relied upon to incite racist group instincts. Immigration was (and probably is) favored by the big-money wing of the Republican party since it provides cheap labor, but Trump used the issue to trounce the establishment Republican candidates in 2016. Immigration and anti-wokeness are really part of the same thing: White Christian Supremacy.
Hence the attempt to describe this as "legitimate anxiety" is an excuse to perpetuate White Christian Supremacy. The calls for Democrats to lay off the trans rights or immigrant rights or the rights of Black people are just ways to perpetuate White Christian Supremacy.
We can't appease this evil ideology. We must defeat it.
Defeat them how? In another comment you wrote: "The GOP is a racist, revanchist, terroristic blight on this country.
Let's just say that and we can move on to how we can fight them." Having thus demonized them, what do you feel is justified in that fight?
What was justified in fighting the Nazis, and why?
When it comes to evading questions, you and Citizen Lehew seem to occupy common ground.
You mean, like raising their kids up to be better than they are? I'd say that's pretty fair fighting. But hen again, maybe it's because for my side it's a winning tactic.
Yes, I would say that is pretty fair fighting. And rather different than what chumpchaser seems to be suggesting.
Wow. you really don't understand the pushback against "woke".
legitimate cultural anxieties
Climate change, and
Climate change, and
Nazis.
And climate change.
I pray that the anti-woke does not fade. A society that convinces itself that it is a good idea to cut the breasts off of a 15-year girl is not sane. And, yes, that happens more often than the people on this blog think. A woman cannot be a man, and a man cannot be a woman. That's reality.
Chuckle. Fade to black 'civiltwilight', fade to black.
Please engage with me on the argument instead of writing petty poetry where you indicate that you wish I would die.
You aren't terribly verbally adroit, are you? Or when you said that you hoped the 'anti-woke does not fade' you were literlly hoping that they wouldn't die?
Let's see you talk yourself out of this one, smeghead.
Smeghead? Are you perhaps a fan of the British TV series "Red Dwarf?"
Anyway, who do you think I want to die?
I'm pointing out your inconsistency. Deal with it.
"And, yes, that happens more often than the people on this blog think."
Would be horrific if it was true. Please provide the link to this "evidence" of US doctors performing such surgery on minors.
Here is one: https://intellectualtakeout.org/2018/09/13-year-olds-given-mastectomies-at-california-clinic/
You didn't read the original JAMA article. The vast majority of transmasculine youth who had surgery (67 out of 68) expressed no regret.
"In this cohort study, chest dysphoria was significantly higher in the nonsurgical vs postsurgical cohort. Among the nonsurgical cohort, 94% perceived chest surgery as very important; among the postsurgical cohort, serious complications were rare, and 67 of 68 reported an absence of regret."
The mean age of postsurgical survey respondents was about 19, so they had time to develop regrets. They didn't.
Why do you think you have the right to decide what gender people can be? What the hell difference does it make to your life?
Exactly. I can sew a tail to my ass but it doesn't make me a golden retriever.
Donald Trump might not be the smartest guy in the room, but he has a native shrewdness about people.
Sharing the same bigotry as the people who think he's speaking for them isn't shrewdness. It's just having the same dimwitted prejudices they do.
What I had thought was a joke apparently is not, pudge lord Elon Musk has actually challenged Mark Zuckerberg to a cage match and been accepted,
https://nordot.app/1060834517785330310?c=592622757532812385
It's the Field of Cloth of Gold of the numbskulls.
The greatest athletic competition since the epic Danny Partridge vs Greg Brady throwdown.
How does Elon Musk keep track of all his great ideas?
This is why we shouldn't have hereditary monarchy or huge accumulations of generational wealth, because pretty idiots are invariably who they end up breeding with.
I was thinking more along the lines of Wolowitz vs Koothrappali: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IkVgPmr2jo
Musk is going to get his gonads kicked into his throat. Can the man NEVER learn to shut his yap?